Harsh Toke

The San Diego Takeover: Harsh Toke

Harsh Toke are one of those bands that Roadburn has adopted as our own. The spaced out jams of their debut album, Light Up and Live, had our ears pricked up and we knew they had to be at the 2014 edition. But such was our faith in this San Diego four piece, that we gave them a residency; they performed two full on psychedelic freak outs (plus a jam-session with the legendary Lenny Kaye), winning over Roadburn audiences with ease.

The love affair was far from over, and Roadburners couldn’t seem to get enough of these guys. So, we did the decent thing and we invited them back once again to wow us with a double whammy of performances for the 2017 edition; a “regular”Harsh Toke show – if such a thing exists – and a Roky Erickson covers set.

The San Diego Takeover:
Fifty years on from the summer of love, a new musical uprising is swelling in the streets of San Diego. Whilst the haze of smoke and the chilled out vibes may remain true to their forefathers, the new kids on the block are a very different breed. Steeped in psychedelia and inspired by Earthless – who played a pivotal role in sparking this particular fire – the new breed is gearing up to launch themselves on Tilburg next April. Stand by; the San Diego circus is coming to town.

Headed up by our 2018 Artist in Residence, Earthless, a veritable gang of musicians will be leaving behind the Pacific Ocean and making their way to the slightly less sun soaked – although no less open minded – vistas of Tilburg. Among the musicians making the trip will be Roadburn veterans mixed in with festival newbies; their members criss-crossing across the ranks and rehearsal spaces as it is. Sharing band members is as much second nature as sharing the good times, so prepare yourself for some mixing and matching along the way.

Each band will perform over the course of the weekend as part of the main festival programme at the 013 venue, but a movement this influential deserves it’s own space to spread out, bloom, and indeed envelope us all. So, with that in mind, there will be a Californian takeover at the Hall of Fame on both Friday and Saturday; we can’t promise the beach, but we can near enough guarantee everything else to make this experience feel like you’ve travelled to these guys’ natural habitat. Welcome to the San Diego Clubhouse!

Some of these bands should familiar to you already; you may even think you know them inside out. But Harsh Toke’s Roky Erickson set at Roadburn 2017 showed us that there’s still room for surprises. You’ll be able to see your favourite San Diegoans as you’ve never seen them before…

When you count professional skaters Riley Hawk, Frecks, Nuge and Figgy among your ranks, it would seem remiss to not factor a skate expo into proceedings, and we’re thrilled to announce thatBaker skateboards will be getting involved on that front. This is not just about music, or skating though – these guys represent a whole lifestyle. As well as visual exhibitions by the likes of JT Rhoades, Lannie Rhoades and BB Bastidas, there will also be stalls featuring Vol.4Clothing and Psockadelic. We didn’t know we needed Roadburn branded socks until just now, but now we really need them…

More details will unfurl over the next couple of months, but for now, it’s time to get stoked: California is coming.

Not done yet? Nor us… the greasy little fingerprints that this band have left all over Roadburn just won’t rub out, so we’re thrilled to announce that they’ll be making a return in 2018. Sure, it’s an unprecedented amount of sets in just a few short years, but just as our faith was well placed back in 2014, we know this is a band with a whole lotta heart and an ocean’s worth of riffs to share with us.

That they’ll be returning with so many of their San Diego brethren makes it all the more exciting, and possibly this will be the closest many of us get to seeing Harsh Toke on home soil. Or maybe we really will be seeing them on home soil…these guys are Roadburn through and through, and there’s no place like home.

The San Diego Takeover is supported by Brabant C and Performing Arts Fund NL.